Kraft + August Challenge

I chose to scrap a belly photo for my daughter's pregnancy album for the Kraft + Challenge so I did a 8x8 layout.

I made some tassels in a colour close to her top in the photo.
I selected these cute love clips from Maya Road to use with this layout in addition to the tassels.

The Kraft paper I am using has a interesting textured look to it so I wanted that to show through any colour I added and chose to not add any gesso or texture paste.

First I added some watercolour in a Emerald shade of green randomly over the page, then I added some left over homemade paint spray made with Kaisercraft sage paint also randomly to the page letting it run and dried with the heat tool.
Then I used a Kaisercraft Stencil with Dylusions Dirty Martini Spray.
I then added some Cracked Pistacio Distress Ink in with a Blending tool and finally stamped some stars with the Cracked Pistacio Distress Ink.
This gave me layers while still showing the Kraft paper off.












I added 3 vellum stickers I recieved with a Birthday Card from Rebecca at Aussie Crafters and some rose ribbon to the layout for some more layers.





















I added this cute baby sticker I got at the Destash Marked as it had some of the colours in the flowers on the vellum stickers I was using.
In addition to the love clip I added 2 die cut hearts I recieved in a die cut swap.

I used one of the vellum stickers to journal how far along my daughter is.

I am really happy with the results.

White with 1 August Challenge

White with 1 this month features my favourite colour this month, so August is the perfect month for me to join this Challenge for the first time.

First I gathered together all my embellishments that may suit it and the photo I wanted to scrap with this layout.  As I chose a photo for my daughter's pregnancy album it meant I needed to do a 8x8 layout which adds to the challenge as it limits space.

When selecting paper I chose a piece of 6x6 paper from Kaisercraft Ivy Crush range in the shade of purple for the challenge,  I also chose this piece that has a lacquared print on it and coloured it with Distress Stain in Seedless Preserves to coordinate with the colours of the layout.

I also coloured one of the smaller butterfly stickers from Kaisercraft Ivy Crush with Distress Stain Seedless Preserves.

I used more of the vintage lace from my Mum's sewing stash, doily flower from the crocheted table runner, a quote tag from Kaisercraft Ivy Crush and chipboard buttons from Bella.

I swiped some Distress Stain in Seedless Preserves on my white cardstock before adhering things down so the swipe marks would poke out from the photo.
I added 3 of the little circles that I popped out of the chipboard buttons on the bottom right corner.

D-lish Scraps June Inspiration Board

When I saw the colours in this months Inspiration Board from D-lish Scraps I knew it was perfect for this photo of my daughter after I cut her hair, she had been so sick for weeks that she couldn't even sit up to have someone else brush her hair so her hair needed to be cut, such happy colours for a photo where she was feeling good about how she looked for the first time since Hyperemisis gravidarum reared it's ugly head.
Unfortunately I was not able to get the Just Add Paper Kit this month though I do love them but had fun diving into my stash for supplies in the colours and used parts from a past kit in my Scrap the Boys Challenge layout.

I randomly layed out some of the embellishments and the photo to see how I felt about it before making a flower with the vintage lace that I had coloured previously coloured with Dylusions Spray in Funky Fuchsia.

Gold was a challenge as I didn't have any embellishments that were gold apart from Beading Wire and some beads.  I created some half flowers out of the wire and really like their effect.  I tried 2 different ways of winding them and prefer the way I created the one on the left.  I will upload a video shortly on how I did this style.

You can just see some of the aqua journalling tag, unfortunately after sticking everything down I decided to do some drips and sprays of Funky Fuchsia and got it on the tag which altered the colour to a more lilac shade.
I like how the beads work on the lace flower I made and the other paper and resin flowers I used.

I used another piece of the necklace that I used on my Altered Book and Scrap The Boys layout which you can see on the left of this photo.  I love this bead, it was the biggest one on the necklace and just gorgeous.
Here is one of the 3 Gold Beading Wire half flowers I created, I think the give a nice accent to the embellishment clusters.

I loved the beads when I first sprinkled them but as I added adhesive they weren't going down in the same pleasant pattern, personally I am not happy with the end result of the beads others may like it though.
I added another aqua journalling tag and a rose to cover a mistake in my title and the damaged journalling tag.
Note to self don't get so excited that you forget to mask off things you don't want spray on ever again ;)

Scrap The Girls June Moodboard Challenge

I really wanted to reward myself with completing some Scrapbooking Challenges this month.
I shared on my Facebook page a list of Challenges that had come to my attention at the beginning of the month promising myself I would do some.
When I finished preparing for my exam I started pulling out papers and embellishments that would suit some of the Challenges I liked, 2 Challenges used similar colours one of which was the Scrap The Girls June Mood Board.
Of the 6 papers I selected after studying I chose these 2 to use for this layout.
I loved all the embellishments, but I only used the selection in the bottom right of this photo on the layout.

The paper under the pile I rubbed some Mustard Seed Distress Stain on and sprayed with some Dirty Martini Dylusions Spray but you can't really see this in the layout as it was a test to see how they would look on the paper.

I chose White Cardstock for my background and used a diamond stencil with yellow paint spray and Dirty Martini Dylusions Spray on the right, then placed the side of the stencil that was covered in ink down on the left.
I rubbed the page with a wet wipe to spread and smudge any excess.
I then used a small chevron stencil with Tumbled Glass Distress Stain and again smudged it with a wet wipe after.

Subtle texture from the sprays and stains.

I chose this photo of my daughter that a friend took during Summer as it is such a special photo, the caption she included with it was very significant and was the reason for the Butterflies on the page and the Title being Butterfly.
The story is personal to her so the Butterflies and the Title is a good way to prompt the positive thoughts associated with the photo without everyone who looks at her album reading her story.

Altered Book

I loved a Listers layout that had bookpaper as the background and thought I haven't started this year yet so why don't I alter a book so I can use it for my lists.
So I chose this book that was missing a couple of pages.

I decided to experiment with altering directly onto the paperback cover rather than adding cardstock or paper to it first.
I applied 2 coats of Gesso and then stencilled with Gesso again.
Once dry I applied a home made paint spray and it started to crinkle up.  I quiet like the effect but I lost most of my stencilling.
I had at least 20 different ways I wanted to do this book.  I prepared multiple chipboard pieces, from cogs that I made look rusty with paint, to the end result of some swirls that I used blue and silver paint on to coordinate with the broken piece of necklace that I added some charms to, I also added wood veneer bird and bird cage to the cover and some paper flowers.

To use the book I am gluing 2 pages together and removing 2 pages between each lot of glued pages to allow for chunky creativity.

After the first layer of Gesso.

Here is the back.   You can see the small amount of stencilling that partially remained.

What do you think of the finished cover?

I can't wait to get listing in this book.